Redesigning Plastics Initiative

Why Redesign Plastics?

50 years of exponential growth in plastic production has created more than 500 years of durable, persistent pollution.

The burden of using plastic responsibly should not solely rest on consumers, and consumer behavior change can only do so much.

By redesigning plastic production before it even reaches the end user, and focusing on recovery, recycling, and true reuse, we will reduce the amount of waste available to fill our landfills, waterways and stop it from even getting into our ocean.

By shifting the conversation from why plastics are made, to how plastics are made and what we make from plastic, we can guide manufacturers toward a production-based solution to this global problem.

Redesigning Plastics Initiative

Plastic use in today’s society is unavoidable. The Ocean Foundation supports eliminating or using alternatives to plastics that are unnecessary or easily replaceable. However, we recognize there are valuable uses for some plastics.

The Ocean Foundation’s Redesigning Plastics Initiative will redefine the role of plastic in our society by eliminating the uses of plastic that are unnecessary and unrecyclable. By redesigning the composition of plastics and additives, we can make this ideal a reality.

40% of plastic is packaging- used just once and thrown away.

Our Approach

How can we change the way plastics are made?

Through policy and legislative options focused on production, we can force a redesign of plastic for a true circular economy.

With our partners, The Ocean Foundation will:

Recognize why we have invented, produced and embraced plastics

Determine which plastics are most important and least replaceable

Engage decision makers and industry leaders where they are

Why have we invented, produced and embraced plastics?

Convenience

Light weighting

Public health & safety, and

Moldable design utility

If convenience drives why we have embraced plastics so deeply, then convenience and ease of reuse should be the bottom line of managing it after use.

Join The Ocean Foundation in redesigning the way plastics are made, what they are used to produce, and invest in a sustainable future.

Redesigning Plastics Initiative: Our four-part premise

First: food safety is paramount

All polymers and additives must be tested for food safety in all logically potential conditions (extreme heat in cars/microwave; extreme cold in freezer)

All polymer blends used in food packaging and storage products must be tested for food safety separately as blends, and

Any “accidental additives” created in the blending process must be tested for food safety.

Second

No virgin polymer, resin or plastic nurdles would be allowed on market that are not recyclable in fact.

Full recovery, true recyclability and then actual reuse requires the polymer to be chemically able to return to original form with access to the appropriate technology.

Technology must be accessible to developing nations and poorer communities to process any imported ingredients and products.

Third

Mechanical recycling would be acceptable, except where it generates byproducts.

For example, microfibers have a higher ability to enter fresh and salt water systems

And are then taken in by the animals in those waters

Fourth

Waste-to-energy technology has to be affordable, safe and intended to take care of the backlog of non-recyclable materials found in landfills at risk of erosion into the sea.

It is most useful in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to replace burning fossil fuel to produce energy, and where other forms of getting rid of existing plastic waste are unfeasible.

Setting priorities through a plastic hierarchy

Priorities should be set from a volume and social utility perspective

That perspective should be:

Culturally and economically sensitive, and

Address the biggest piece of the problem first (e.g. packaging)

Hierarchy categories should include:

Outright bans

Limitations and phasing out of some products

Recognition of essential needs

In development of a plastics hierarchy, the following should be considered:

Reducing plastic production by (regulatorily) limiting production to the “hard to replace” and “essential” plastic products

Using municipal and other government acquisition requirements to create or improve markets, especially for packaging and construction materials

Identifying revenue options to support research and development, technological improvements, and education campaigns

Understanding and explaining the potential harms from biodegradable processed alternatives

Naming the tradeoffs for certain sectors–for example, transporting liquids in glass burns more fuel and may increase waste due to breakage, but glass is more recyclable, and people aren’t sickened by its content

Improving litter and solid waste management across multiple jurisdictions and with the private sector

Engaging People Where They Are: Industry role

Through legislative incentives to support circular economy solutions,

Producers of resin, polymers and nurdles can become part of the solution.

Legal remedies may be required to manage accelerated commitment to plastic use in long term and cap total production volume

The European Union’s Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy (January 2018) provides possible framework:

To protect the environment and citizens from plastic pollution and to demonstrate the business case for transforming the way that products are designed, produced, used, and recycled. Under the new plans, all plastic packaging on the EU market will be recyclable by 2030, the consumption of single-use plastics will be reduced, and the intentional use of microplastics will be restricted. The Strategy highlights the main commitments for action at the EU level but also emphasizes the important role of businesses, together with national and regional authorities, and citizens.

While technological advancements from industry have used plastics to solve world problems through:

Light weighting

Durability

Reduction in food waste

The use and disposal of plastics remains a global challenge shared by us all.

REV Ocean will provide a unique opportunity for researchers on board the 2021 maiden voyage with the support of The Ocean Foundation’s regional grant making efforts to connect donors with local science and conservation projects.

KeynoteWednesday, 9 October 2019 Honorable Senators and distinguished guests.My name is Mark Spalding, and I am the President of The Ocean Foundation, and of the A.C. Fundación Mexicana para el Océano This is my 30th year of …